Take a trip down Ghost Mushroom Lane with ForestrySA

THESE are the eerie mushrooms that glow so brightly you can read by them — and ForestrySA is inviting you to stand among them in their tens of thousands.

Clare Peddie

The AdvertiserApril 25, 20187:36pm

Take a trip down Ghost Mushroom Lane in May and June1:56

The ghost mushroom Omphalotus nidiformis emits a soft green glow after dark, which is bright enough to make out words on a page. ForestrySA is inviting people to visit Ghost Mushroom Lane in the South East pine forest near Mount Gambier during May and June.

April 25th 2018

8 months ago

BASK in the eerie glow of the ghost mushroom with light so bright you can read The Advertiser, or at least glance at the headlines.

ForestrySA is inviting people to take a trip down Ghost Mushroom Lane in the South East pine forest near Mount Gambier in May and June.

Conservation planner Troy Horn says Omphalotus nidiformis is a native fungus that glows when the fungal enzymes react with oxygen.

“If you go at the right time and under the right conditions — not a full moon and when they’re out, quite fresh — yes you honestly can read with them, but as they wilt it becomes a bit more difficult,” he said.

The chemical in the mushroom responsible for the glow can be poisonous, causing cramps and vomiting if ingested. Accidental touching is not harmful.

The ghost mushroom, Omphalotus nidiformis, emits a soft green glow after dark, which is bright enough to make out words on a page. Picture: Ockert le Roux
Source:Supplied

More than 18,500 people visited Ghost Mushroom Lane last year, when the 60ha site was first opened to the public at the suggestion of local photographer and nature enthusiast Ockert le Roux, who captured the stunning image shown here.

“We’re talking tens of thousands of these type of mushrooms,” Mr Horn said.

“It’s pretty amazing, we think it’s the biggest site of its type in the country... it has benefited from the plantation forestry cycle.”

Ghost mushrooms can be found throughout Australia growing on decaying plant material, such as stumps left after pine tree harvest. They emerge in late autumn following good rain and continue into winter, reaching a size of up to 20cm wide.

Mr Horn took his daughter to an area where the mushrooms are particularly dense, known as Green Lantern Gully.

The ghost mushroomcan been seen in Ghost Mushroom Lane in the South-East pine forest, near Mount Gambier during May and June. Picture: Ockert le Roux
Source:Supplied

“We just stood in the middle of this whole area and every single stump that was there had glowing mushrooms on it,” he said.

“You could see the yellow-green colour you see in the photos, we just sat in the middle and said ‘Wow’.”

Photographing the Ghost Mushroom in the cold, dark forest environment is no easy feat.